What is the primary mechanism of Amazon product ranking algorithm?

Amazon is the most popular and at the same time the most competitive e-commerce platform in the world. Due to the severe competition, it is becoming more and more complicated to rank your products on Amazon, especially if you want to win sales in such popular categories as supplements or beauty and health. 

To become a prosperous Amazon sellers, you need firstly nail the fundamentals such as having a desirable product with strong demand, crafting well-converted product listing, conducting comprehensive keyword research, and so on. 

Knowing these optimization aspects will help you to get the edge over your competition. However, the thing you should be aware of is that not all of these optimization aspects will continue necessary translate into the traffic and sales you might have expected. If you want to be sure that your optimization campaign will bring you a positive result, you need to understand how to adjust it with a current Amazon product ranking algorithm. 

Amazon product ranking algorithm

Amazon products ranking algorithm or A9 is a maturing system that continues to evolve and become more complex each year. The primary task of this ranking system is to provide users with the closest product matches to their queries. To provide users with the most accurate search results, Amazon implements a variety of ranking systems and metrics. Amazon wants to make money, that is why it ranks only those products that customers will most likely to order. That is why you should be aware that this system does not care it is from selling your inventory or selling your competitors. 

Amazon ranking system is designed to favor those listings that have the most traffic both on the Amazon platform, as well as off. 

As all customers on Amazon have a buying intend when they open it, you need to make all possible to put your listing in front of your potential audience. According to the industry figures, more than 85% of all shoppers purchase products from the first search results page. Searches tend to believe Amazon system and do not want to spend their time on product research. That is why the fewer time customers have to think it over, the greater chance that Amazon will receive revenue. To help Amazon maximize its profit and boost your revenue, you need to place your inventory in the appropriate categories and subcategories as well as incorporate your targeted search terms into your listing.

Remember that to select the suitable by functional requirements products; Amazon employs several basic criteria. First of all, your product listing content should fully correspond a user's query. Secondly, your listing should present quality product images with an ability to zoom and see an item from different angles. Not less crucial ranking aspect is your sales history on Amazon. The more sales you have, the higher you will rank on Amazon. It serves like a continuous cycle where sales make deals. 

Among the components that are taken into account by Amazon to determine a product purchase probability, I can enumerate performance and relevance factors. The first ranking factors refer to such selling metrics as conversion, click-through rate, and BSR. The second one reflects how product functional characteristics correspond to an individual user’s query. Relevance factor is mainly reflected by targeted search terms. So, the products with high conversion rate and well-optimized listing have more chances to rank high on Amazon. 

Basic Amazon SEO tips that will make your inventory visible on SERP

• Populate relevant search terms

When crafting your Amazon product listing, make sure you are populating as many targeted search terms as possible. It will help you to increase your visibility, boost sales, and improve overall rank in the search results. In other words, by providing relevant and complete information about the products you sell, you can increase your product’s visibility and sales. 

• Work with your sales boost

As I have mentioned earlier, nothing can move the search rank needle-like sales. Sales are what make your brand popular and inventory well-purchased. The proven method to generate sales is to drive both external and internal traffic to your Amazon listing. Generating traffic on Amazon system, it is reasonable to use pay-per-click ads, while external traffic can be attracted with the help of Google advertising, social media marketing, and guest blogging. Moreover, you can use launch service. It helps to create a natural spike in sales that move the product up the ranks. 

• Generate product reviews

Product reviews also have an impact on your product rank on Amazon search results page. Reviews serve as social proof of product quality and relevance. Amazon customers rely on reviews to make informed decisions about their purchases. That is why Amazon is actively struggling against fake reviews services where people are getting paid to write fake positive reviews. Since 2016 all incentivized and not organic reviews are forbidden. So, if Amazon notices some fake activity on your product page, it will be banned. That is why you need to make an accent on generating honest and unbiased reviews that won’t raise Amazon’s suspicion. 

• Anecdotal Amazon SEO

These factors are not documented by Amazon but have a significant impact on product ranking algorithm. One of these factors is FBA (Amazon fulfillment services that help sellers to provide their customers with fast delivery services). As a rule, FBA Amazon products rank higher than products fulfilled by a merchant. Brand name and seller name can also affect your rank position on Amazon SERP. These names may increase your organic rank if they contain the targeted search terms for the product. And finally, all other listing fields should be filled out as some of them have been shown to influence rank position and filtering in a search.  

Proven Amazon FBA tricks that will boost your sales

• Build backlink to your product page

The perfect way to attract targeted traffic to your product page and improve your Amazon product page rank is to build backlinks to your Amazon product page. It will help you to improve your rank on Google and will then impact your Amazon ranking position. Amazon is one of the major players in the SEO field and has a high domain authority and page rank. That is why when you insert your product search query into Google search box, the first search result you get is Amazon. That is why it is reasonable to build links to your Amazon page to raise its rank on Google. 

Semalt digital company provides its clients with one unique product which is called Amazon SEO. It helps sellers to use their marketing efforts to your advantage. They use the technology of massive backlink building to make Google associates seller product pages with the search terms they need pushing their store to the TOP of Amazon search results page. 

• Use competitor’s main image in AMS

Sometimes it smart to use your Amazon competitors to your advantage. The most straightforward variant is to copy your competitor’s leading image and advertise Product Display Ads on the listing for cheaper cost through AMS. Customers will attract it as the same product and click on it, especially if you have a lower price. Using this hack, you get an opportunity to gain some free traffic and raise your product page rank. However, you should be aware that it can only be resultative if you sell the same exact products. 

• Provide a full price when giving away your products

Simple but still efficient method to make more sales and raise rank on Amazon is to give away products at a full price. As a result, Amazon will rank your product higher, thinking that you will make Amazon more money. 

• Create a good first impression

Creating your product listing on Amazon, you should make Amazon believe that you will bring significant revenue to the system. On the initial stage of your Amazon business development, you should give away a lot of units to match your TOP 5 competitors for the 1st week of launch. Moreover, if you are matching your TOP competitor's sales Amazon will also rank you high. 

• Use social media marketing to raise your brand visibility on social networks

To raise your Amazon listing rank, you should see additional traffic sources such as social media channels and blogs. The best social media platforms where you can promote your business is Facebook and Instagram. It is reasonable to create your brand pages here to establish close contact with your targeted audience. You can start by offering tips and tricks about your niche or provide some related information that can be useful for your readers. Once you have gathered a crowd of followers, you should start advertising your Amazon products to them. You can offer some discounts, giveaways, gift cards, etc. to make users purchase your stuff on Amazon.